Stories

Redgie & Junne Duquilla

How would you describe your experience giving to Vision Builders?

At the start, it was a scary thought to commit to it, but it’s automatic now. It’s just what we do. There’s so much peace around it... It’s not a wrestle any more. We talk about what we’re going to give but there’s peace around it. It comes to that time of the year and we know we have to have that conversation, we get ready for it, we plan for it and we create different pathways to make it happen. For us, there’s no stress around it, there’s no fear, no anxiety, there’s a real peace on it. God’s peace is on it and He’s graced us to give.

Our giving totally requires a stretch in our finances - we need big, bold faith to step out and make our commitment each year. But we’re so grateful as every year we see new fruit across so many areas in our life. Growth in our business, unexpected provision and constant covering for our family.

What does being part of the legacy mean to you?

Legacy for us as Vision Builders means that we will keep giving year after year and partnering with all the different areas of need but also giving to create a behaviour and attitude of generosity in our home. We want our kids to grow up with unlimited resources at their hands to not just build their life, but to ALWAYS have generosity in their hearts toward the House of God. We’re believing that their default would be generosity for God and for their own worlds.

What would you say to someone thinking about giving to Vision Builders?

Just do it! Test God and see what He can do through this. We’re a testament of what God’s done. We’ve grown through Vision Builders. Our faith has grown.
Just step out. Have a plan – make a decision or a commitment that’s bigger than what you can afford. There’s what you can afford, then add faith to that and make a plan in prayer. Just do it – the covering of God will be on you if you just do it. Be all in!

Ryan & Shannon Kerrison

Building - Reaching - Caring - what do they mean to you?

Ryan: I love the Building aspect of Vision Builders. I think it’s important to have resource and to get things done. We need practical solutions for people as much as we need emotional support. We also have a responsibility to do what we can with the resource we’ve got.
Shannon: Caring resonates with me – I’m naturally caring and empathetic and I see providing care for those in need as really important.

Have you received any revelations about giving through Vision Builders?

We haven’t seen any immediate fruit – you know the stories you hear of people giving to Vision Builders and then this happened – we haven’t really had that but we’ve had a really strong undercurrent in our world, between us and our finances and our relationship with God, a strong undercurrent of trust and stewarding. We haven’t necessarily seen any fruit yet but we’ve definitely seen the principle of faithfulness become stronger in us.
We really wanted to pin down good principles of stewardship from the get go. Even when we were engaged, we pledged this together. We wanted to set up giving as a constant in our lives.

Why have you made Vision Builders a priority?

We see the tithe as something entirely different to Vision Builders. It would be really weird if we didn’t have Vision Builders – it’d be weird if we didn’t have some kind of avenue to pour resource into to then effect change into the world. To actually put some legs and feet on our gospel and go and meet some needs.
Shannon is high in empathy and compassion, and I’m high in pragmatism, and Vision Builders marries them really well and gives us the ability to trust God with something that’s bigger than just us.
Part of that is legacy – we can join in something that we see as practical and natural, but it’s also highly spiritual. People have been before us and sacrificed before us, and now we’re taking part in that for the people we don’t even know.

Philip & Marjo Scherrer

Vision Builders creates legacy - what does being part of this legacy mean to you?

Being a part of the Vision Builders legacy is part of being an example for my children and the people I’m in contact with at Church. It’s an example of what great things we can achieve when we give generously. It’s continuity – we give, we’re involved and our children are involved – it goes beyond us and beyond our lifespan. When I give, I see the continuity. It’s so much bigger than our lives at the present time, and I think that it has to be bigger.

Giving to Vision Builders is often a step of faith, can you tell us about your experience giving in faith?

It’s always a step of faith. We have a scripture that keeps us giving, it’s in Matthew 6 and it says, ‘Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also’. We give because our hearts are in building the church and building the body of Christ, and when we give we’re putting our treasures in God’s vision. It’s constantly a faith situation because everyone likes money and nice things, and when we give to Vision Builders we put God and His kingdom first. It’s a step of faith every single time, whether it’s a big amount of money or a small amount of money. God tells us to put His kingdom first and that’s what we do.

What keeps you giving?

Of course, you can always put that money somewhere else. But once you put it into something else, it’s gone. It doesn’t necessarily last. It doesn’t have that legacy beyond our lives, beyond even our children’s lives. It’s funny how the money we give converts into something incredibly valuable and eternally, globally. It’s like five loaves of bread and a couple of fish, but what God does with it is just amazing.
I see it as laying up treasure for God and I don’t want to stop doing that. I’m contributing to something beyond myself and beyond my family and I don’t want to stop doing that. It keeps me being generous and I want to be generous. I don’t want to hold on because when I’m generous, I increase my giving in other areas of my life.

Mish Koh

How would you describe your experience giving to Vision Builders?

It’s definitely a step of faith. I think giving, in a sense, has changed my life. While I was studying at C3 College, God spoke to me and gave me an amount that He wanted me to give in my lifetime, so it was like a challenge to me to see how fast I can get there. I don’t necessarily have the means now, but I think it’s so important to be submitted to God in our finances. Your life changes when you give, and everyone’s journey is different – you won’t necessarily get blessed financially, but it’s more than that. It’s helping out the Kingdom.

Has the reason you contribute changed since when you first started giving?

I didn’t understand giving back then but I remember someone saying to me, ‘Don’t not be part of it just because you don’t understand the whole mechanics of it’ – I’m quite a logical thinker and that really challenged me. But I was really moved to give because I wanted to be part of something bigger. You can’t do it by yourself but I love hearing the stories of how everyone comes together to make such a big difference.

What does Building, Reaching and Caring mean to you?

The Building aspect of Vision Builders means a lot to me. At C3 Parramatta I help out on core team and it’s great to see people be able to call C3 Parramatta home because of what Vision Builders has done. I also teach at C3 College’s new Silverwater Campus and seeing the lives changed through that is amazing. I’m impacted when I can see students ‘getting’ it and having breakthrough.

Kelly O'Regan

How has Vision Builders impacted the way you view church?

Vision Builders makes me feel very connected to what we’re doing. I go to C3 Manly but I’ve continued giving as part of the wider church and I feel really connected to all the things that we’re doing through that. Even though I go to a smaller location, Vision Builders reminds me I’m part of the wider church.

Has something changed in you since you started giving to Vision Builders?

I have a conviction to keep giving faithfully. What I’ve learnt with Vision Builders is to have a faith goal of what I’m going to give but to also have a practical plan in place so I can actually give what I’ve committed to. Before the Vision Builders Dinner, I pray about it and plan it, I look at what I’ve given the previous financial year and then God always speaks to me at the Dinner anyway as well. It’s a balance of thinking very carefully about it but still being in prayer and open to the prompting of the Holy Spirit, particularly at the Dinner when we set aside that time as a church to talk about it.

How would you describe your experience giving to Vision Builders?

It’s a core part of me being at the church. I show my worship to God through extra giving. It’s a fundamental part of who I am as a Christian. It’s part of a spiritual routine where even if I’m going through a tough season of not feeling close to God, I still give.

Luke & Grace Thorn

Building - Reaching - Caring - which ones resonate with you?

Grace: Caring - My heart has always been to care for people in a practical way, and when I joined C3 and discovered that they shared this heart, I was excited! Hearing about the practical ways we support the community through the financial contributions from Vision Builders made me even more excited to give. What a worthy cause!
Luke: Reach - People need to hear about Jesus. Working in the online marketing space, it’s so exciting to see how we are reaching people for Jesus through broadcast, media and online marketing channels - it’s so important that we’re leaders and growing in this area.

Can you tell us about your experience of giving in faith?

Our experience giving to Vision Builders has been challenging, exciting and joyful. We’ve found it a step of faith almost every year and we think it’s a great thing to stretch ourselves and expand our faith and our giving every year. Plus giving to a faithful God makes it easier to give in faith!

What would you say to anyone thinking about giving to Vision Builders?

Vision Builders is amazing because it gives us a greater sense of just how much of a family and a caring community our church really is by building, reaching and caring for people in their walk with God - that’s something we love being a part of. Give prayerfully and with a joyful heart - God is good! It’s a great honour to bring glory to God through our giving.

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